Look of the Day: Fancy Date Night

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Between having my sweetheart gone on a business trip for about 5 weeks and me spending the weekend he came back in bed with a cold, we hadn’t had a proper date night in too long. So I was more than happy to realize the weekend we will finally be able to have one was during Restaurant Week. What better way to reinstate date night than with a fancy date night!
For those of you who don’t know about Restaurant Week, it’s an event where many local restaurants offer a 3 course prix-fixe menu for a very reasonable price. Many cities nationwide celebrate Restaurant Week, and here in the Phoenix area they’ve been doing it for several years. It’s a great way to get around and try some of the upscale (and pricier!) restaurants without breaking the bank.
We’ve been doing Restaurant Week for a few years now, and this time we decided to try The Capital Grille. It’s a very nice steakhouse and as most in that category they also offer some great seafood choices. The first two courses were delicious, from the french onion soup and salad to the steak & lobster, the seared citrus salmon, even the mashed potatoes and green beans were extraordinary; the desserts were good but didn’t really impress me, the dark cholocate espresso cake was a bit too rich for me, and the creme brulee was good but I’ve had better. All in all a great meal and a great deal.
Now, one of my favorite things about fancy date nights is of course the opportunity to dress up! It seems like here in Arizona there really aren’t very many opportunities to do so. I don’t know if it’s the weather or just a cultural thing, but most people here are very casual in their dressing, sometimes too casual I would say. I mean, I understand that the weather really does require wearing shorts and flip flops most of the time, but that doesn’t automatically make jeans fancy attire!
Anyway, I decided a long time ago to dress for myself and wear what I like even if that makes me overdressed in other people’s eyes. No more saving my nice clothes and favorite outfits for special occasions because those don’t come around often enough for me. At the end of the day, what’s so bad about being “overdressed”? That I might be the best dressed person there? Better to be overdressed than underdressed, that’s for sure.
So, this time I wore an LBD I scored at the Good Will Store for $10, can’t beat that! I love this dress, the skirt is especially flattering on me, but I hadn’t realized until looking at these pics, that I probably need to have the top part tailor a bit. I think it’s supposed to be slightly loose on top, which it’s why it didn’t bother me that it was, but seeing it in the photos I think it’s too loose on the sleeves and waist for me. The dress came with a belt, but this time I switched it for a sequined belt from H&M. I added gold accesories, and voilà, ready for fancy date night!
What would you wear for a fancy date night?

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What I wore
Black dress: Good Will Store
Black sequined belt: H&M
Statement necklace: Bebe
Black clutch: vintage (my mom's from the early 90's!)
Chain bracelet: from Macy's
Gold sparkly shoes: Guess

Look of the Day: Hat or No Hat?

Even though today I’m just sharing a simple and comfortable look you may find me wearing on a weekend, it’s still kind of a special post because I’m introducing for the first time on the blog my babies, a.k.a my hats. Just a couple of them, because you should know I own quite a few.

My love affair with this marvelous piece of accessory was born out of my inability to do anything interesting or creative with my hair, which results in more than your average amount of the infamous ‘bad hair days’. So I initially resorted to hats as a sort of  cover up for such sad disastrous days (in hair terms anyway), but soon enough they really grew on me. Not only are they practical and purposeful pieces (they do offer wonderful sun protection), they are quite stylish as well. I love that they come in all shapes, colors and sizes. They offer enough variety for anyone to find the piece that betters suits her features and/or moods. My love of hats has grown so deep I have even become quite taken with the often-ridiculed British fascinators (the extravagant hats commonly worn by British women to weddings and certain events). I would love for that tradition to find its way into the American culture.

Anyway, back to today’s outfit, I present you 3 versions of it: without a hat, with big floppy hat, and with a classic fedora. You can pick your favorite. I, on the other hand, can’t. I like all 3 versions, and will wear them all, depending on my mood and the occasion. The day the pictures were taken I ended up going out without a hat for no particular reason.

Now, besides introducing you to two of my beloved hats, there’s another piece in this ensemble that I am currently enamored with, a large cocktail ring I recently purchased. You see, I love accessories in general, from hats to belts to big chunky jewelry, because I often dress in simple and comfortable clothes, and it’s all these add-on pieces that really end up making the outfit fun and interesting. Plus, like I mentioned before, on most days I don’t wear makeup and I feel like the accessories help dress up the look a bit more; in my opinion, they keep me from looking just plain frumpy.

So, which outfit version is your favorite? Do you wear hats? Do you have a favorite hat style? Please share!

Dress: H&M
Belt: H&M
Tote Bag: Saks Fifth Avenue via Good Will Store
Shoes: Circa Joan & David via Macy's
Necklace: Vintage
Cocktail Ring: BCBG Max Azria
Big Floppy Hat: Target
Fedora: it was a present from Mexico
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